June 2009

Last night my mom, sister and I went downtown (Chicago) to see Mary Poppins. We had gotten the tickets as a gift for my mom’s birthday. We headed down early and went to some cute little shops around Sheffield and Armitage. Then we parked by the Cadillac Palace Theatre and walked to Petterino’s for dinner. It was a really nice, fun day (and dinner was delicious). We got to the theater early and my sister and I both got Mary Poppins umbrellas, you know, the one with the parrot head on the handle! They don’t talk, but they are adorable.

We found our seats and settled in for a supercalifragilisticexpealidocious time, but 20 minutes into the show (right before they sing “Jolly Holiday” with Burt and jump into the paintings) the curtain came down and they announced they were having “technical difficulties” and needed to make it “safe for the actors on stage”. Okay. So 20 minutes later they announced they were still working on it. Sadly, the director finally came out and told us the show needed to be cancelled because the set is run by a computer and the computer had crashed. The actress playing Mary, Ashley Brown, came out to wave and apologize as well. They promised we would either be given tickets to another performance or a full refund. Hopefully we can work our schedules to go see it another time (it ends July 12th) because I really want to see it.

While we were all disappointed, the saddest thing was a little blonde boy, about 6 years old, who was sobbing outside the theater in the rain after the audience left. He was so sad he wasn’t going to see Mary Poppins! His grandma was trying to comfort him, but I think he needed “a spoonful of sugar.”

Had to get the refund because there were no seats together at any of the remaining shows. Effing ridiculous! We would have all rather seen the show. I wish the cast had sung some of the songs, even if there were no sets. Or signed playbills in the lobby. Disappointing.

Roger Ebert is a robotist. He apparently also hates fun. Guess what, Rog…no one wants Transformers 2 to win an Oscar. They want to have an awesome time at the theater. Mission accomplished. I loved it!

I wasn’t a Transformers kid…and while I probably like the first one more, since it was the first and so amazing that Michael Bay could make robots transform on screen, the second one is just as entertaining. And Shia is actually better looking, if possible.

Dear Mr. Ebert,

For F’s sake, Roger….can’t you just have fun watching a summer blockbuster. Stop being so pretentious and eat your popcorn. You wonder why no one notices the pyramids being destroyed…HOW ABOUT THE FACT THAT THERE ARE ALIEN ROBOTS AT ALL!?!

I’m surprised you like the robot dog humping Megan Fox’s leg…that seems very “frat boy” of you, and living in a college town, I saw the movie with a bunch of frat boys who all seemed to love the whole thing.

One last thing…they’re DeceptiCONS…not Deceptibots. Loser.

Sincerely,

Jackie Witkowski

(Ebert gave it one star, I would give the story a three, but since its a summer blockbuster meant to blow things up and show attractive people on screen while you eat your popcorn, I give it a 4 because it completely accomplishes that. I hope TPTB come to their senses and let Michael Bay have the time he needs to make the 3rd one…it wouldn’t be Transformers without him.)

“Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing.” – Optimus Prime

“So You Think You Can Dance” Season 5 started last night. Unfortunately, my TiVo betrayed me and recorded “Wipeout” instead of SYTYCD, but I found this great website that lets you watch the whole episode, so now I’m caught up. And TiVo promised never to cross me again.

Of course the dancers and choreographers were great, but the true star of this show for me is the host, Cat Deeley. She’s the female Ryan Seacrest, beautiful, stylish and responsible for telling America which phone numbers to call to vote for their favorite contestants. The difference between the two, however, is Deeley is never afraid to make a fool of herself.

She has tried to dance with the poppers and lockers, celebrated with the victorious but even more importantly, comforted the defeated. She is genuinely happy and excited when dancers do well and continue on to the next show, but she has cried with those eliminated. She isn’t afraid to be real. I love Seacrest as much as the next girl, but he’s always one step back from being on the same level as the contestants. Deeley is a dancer’s best friend.

Favorite Cat Deeley Moments:

– She put Twitch’s fake teeth in her mouth, slobber and all.

– When Twitch was eliminated, he was heartbroken. So was she. When he collapsed into a ball, she got on his level, hugged him and didn’t worry about moving the show along. She comforted him as a person, not just as a host.

Earlier this week, Jimmy Fallon had Mark-Paul Gosselar on his show. MPG was promoting the season premiere of his show, “Raising the Bar,” but he did so as the only man/boy I can honestly say I will love forever and ever, Zack Morris!

It was amazing. He was dressed in acid washed tight rolled jeans, white high top sneakers and a green patterned t-shirt with an open redish brown button up shirt over it. He was also rocking his classic highlighted blonde hair. (It’s really the only hair MPG should ever have.) He had his brick cell phone, he spoke fondly of Belding and his (sadly) ex-wife Kelly, who left him for Jeff from The Max and moved to another zip code. (AMAZING, she was on 90210)

The best moments of the interview for me, however, were Jimmy’s. This is saying a lot because, while I adore Jimmy Fallon, his show has yet to win me over. This interview changed all that.

Jimmy asks Zack about his summer job at the beach…”Malibu Sands?” “Yeah, Stacy Kerosi was hot!”

Zack talks about his band, Zack Attack, and Jimmy asks him to play. He sings “Friends Forever.” It was AWESOME!

Zack answers his cell phone, it’s Jessie. “SPANO!?” cries Jimmy. His enthusiasm is 100% authentic, and I immediately love Jimmy and forgive the last few weeks of awkward moments on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”

Huge thanks to Mark-Paul Gosselar, as well. It’s refreshing to see a celebrity not afraid to have fun with his past. Usually it seems like stars are too embarrassed, ashamed, uppity to own how they became famous in the first place.

This interview meant a lot to me as a huge fan of “Saved by the Bell.” I own all the seasons on DVD and the soundtrack. I love SBTB! It validated by continued love. Thanks, Mark-Paul, Zack and Jimmy. Hopefully this SBTB reunion happens…it’s been a long time coming!

My friend Amy just sent me a link to this amazing music video for “Total Eclipse of the Heart” on Youtube…it’s the literal version. People have changed and rerecorded the lyrics to sing what is being depicted in the video. The result is hilarity. Enjoy!